Come Follow Me Book of Mormon with Sam Mosiah 7-10
Welcome to Come Follow me with Sam!
We are embarking on the chapters that cover some pivotal changes for Lamanites and Nephites, and a lot of pieces moving around. There are so many lessons to learn from this! These next chapters don't tell a single narrative. They tell things as they happened when they happened. I will give some background, then jump into some different lessons.
Call out to sister Wright and her blog for talking about this. Please check out her page for this
simple (hah!) diagram. Here is the breakdown:
Journey-ings before the diagram (good to know)
1. Lehi and family go to promised land
2. Mulek and people go to promised land in Zarahemla
3. Nephi and friends leave first place for their safety and journey to a place they call the Land of Nephi.
4. centuries later, Mosiah I is told to leave the Land of Nephi. He and those who are faithful follow him. The rest presumably perish. Mosiah and the remnant of the Nephites travel and find Zarahemla.
That's the back story. Now for the actual diagram:
1. A group wishes to go back to the land of Nephi. They travel from Zarahemla to close to the land of Nephi, but the expedition fails (read about it in Mosiah 9.
2. Zeniff leads a group a second time from Zarahemla to the land of Nephi and founds the city of Lehi-Nephi, right next to the Lamanites. He has a son, Noah, and he has a son, Limhi. (I believe they are directly in line but its possible that there was an extra generation or two in between these people. I'll have to look it up).
3. This is slightly out of order, but after #4 (I believe), Limhi sends a group to find Zarahemla. The problem is that they can't remember the way. They overshoot it, probably by a heck of a distance, and find the ruins of the Jaredite civilization instead. They bring back some artifacts and 24 plates with writing on them (plates like pages made out of metal. Just in case that is confusing).
4. A priest named Alma teaches the gospel, Baptises in the wilderness, and finally leave to begin a new city in the wilderness called Helam. This city exists out in the bush for a good while.
4.5 This isn't included but it is important. Some wicked priests from Alma's cohort (Alma mater... haha) get stuck in the wilderness, find beautiful Lamanite women (yeah, its complicated), and basically end up Lamanites.
5.Meanwhile, back at Zarahemla central, the people want to know what happened to these people. Mosiah II sends ammon and friends to check it out. They find the city. <This is where chapter 7 starts.
6. Ammon and Limhi boogey out of Lehi Nephi
7. the Lamanites are not happy about this and chase them. They find the city of Helam. Alma and friends are basically enslaved for a time, then are delivered and get out and find Zarahemla again as well. Helam is mentioned once after this in Alma 24 in relation to a city named after the wicked priests, so I'm guessing the bulk of the wicked priests posterity stayed here.
Cool, that was just for starters :)
When Ammon comes, the first two chapters of this weeks reading is like a giant general conference. There are a couple things that you need to realize here.
First, Limhi and peeps are in a bad spot. A really bad spot. In fact... Yeah, they are just about completely crushed at this point. They are in bondage by the Lamanites, they are watched all the time, and they tried to take back their lands 3 times and were completely defeated, to the point where a significant amount of their men were just killed. Furthermore, they think that Zarahemla has ceased to exist. So when Ammon comes, its a big deal.
Limhi then says, 'look guys, there is hope.' Then he reminds them about the past, how bad it was, and where they went wrong (spoiler - never kill a prophet of God. Just don't do it.) Then things take a spiritual turn. Ammon fills them in on the discourse of King Benjamin, and they talk about plates and seers and holy things.
From there we launch into the record of Zeniff which is back in the past and follow the story from him all the way up into the present again. One thing that may help us understand the order is that we are getting things from Ammon's perspective. That is to say, the chapters are laid out in the order he learned about them. Whether purposefully or incidentally done, it will help explain the order of the next chapters.
Here are some fast and furious lessons you can explore this week.
1. what is a seer 8:13-20
Everything is chill and then at the end of Mosiah 8, Ammon and Limhi get super deep-doctrine-like on us. vs 13 is a real kicker. Some may wonder why God teaches line on line, precept on precept, and waits to release certain things. This is something the reasons for which, I won't pretend to understand completely, but one reason is that apparently we would perish at looking at certain knowledge. Sacred things are not to be trifled with. More than that, I don't know.
2. The God story in two verses, 7:26-28
Limhi explains all of Abinadai's teachings in two verses. Here are two take-aways that sum our entire existence.
a. 'man was created in the image of God and that God should come down among the children of men. (We are divine. Heaven can come on earth)
b. 'because he said this, they did put him to death'
(Satan will do anything and kill anyone to hide this truth from you. It is possibly the most precious truth you can know.)
(Just for the heck of it, the Egyptians would say to this - Hide it! Hide it! It is beneficial! You'll have to read The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri to understand, but it's worth it and acutely appropriate.)
3. An effectual struggle 7:18-19
One day I was reading this and the majesty of what he was saying struck me so deep. Remember that he and his people are all but destroyed. Limhi says, look, we can still do something about our situation and we should do it. He also reminds them that God is an old hand at deliverance; He knows how to do these things even when it looks impossible.
4. Over-zealousness 7:21
Limhi says Zeniff is overzealous. This can also mean looking beyond the mark. I believe that over-zealousness is not a location problem, its an instrumentation problem. It is not that you are in the wrong spot, it is that you lost your compass. To avoid being overzealous, worry less about where you are today and worry more about how you are correcting your course to focus on repentance and baptism through Jesus Christ.
and many more.
I'm out of time for this week, but there is a ton of super cool stuff in here. I really hope you enjoy your scripture study!!!
We are embarking on the chapters that cover some pivotal changes for Lamanites and Nephites, and a lot of pieces moving around. There are so many lessons to learn from this! These next chapters don't tell a single narrative. They tell things as they happened when they happened. I will give some background, then jump into some different lessons.
Where is everybody going!?
Call out to sister Wright and her blog for talking about this. Please check out her page for this
simple (hah!) diagram. Here is the breakdown:
Journey-ings before the diagram (good to know)
1. Lehi and family go to promised land
2. Mulek and people go to promised land in Zarahemla
3. Nephi and friends leave first place for their safety and journey to a place they call the Land of Nephi.
4. centuries later, Mosiah I is told to leave the Land of Nephi. He and those who are faithful follow him. The rest presumably perish. Mosiah and the remnant of the Nephites travel and find Zarahemla.That's the back story. Now for the actual diagram:
1. A group wishes to go back to the land of Nephi. They travel from Zarahemla to close to the land of Nephi, but the expedition fails (read about it in Mosiah 9.
2. Zeniff leads a group a second time from Zarahemla to the land of Nephi and founds the city of Lehi-Nephi, right next to the Lamanites. He has a son, Noah, and he has a son, Limhi. (I believe they are directly in line but its possible that there was an extra generation or two in between these people. I'll have to look it up).
3. This is slightly out of order, but after #4 (I believe), Limhi sends a group to find Zarahemla. The problem is that they can't remember the way. They overshoot it, probably by a heck of a distance, and find the ruins of the Jaredite civilization instead. They bring back some artifacts and 24 plates with writing on them (plates like pages made out of metal. Just in case that is confusing).
4. A priest named Alma teaches the gospel, Baptises in the wilderness, and finally leave to begin a new city in the wilderness called Helam. This city exists out in the bush for a good while.
4.5 This isn't included but it is important. Some wicked priests from Alma's cohort (Alma mater... haha) get stuck in the wilderness, find beautiful Lamanite women (yeah, its complicated), and basically end up Lamanites.
5.Meanwhile, back at Zarahemla central, the people want to know what happened to these people. Mosiah II sends ammon and friends to check it out. They find the city. <This is where chapter 7 starts.
6. Ammon and Limhi boogey out of Lehi Nephi
7. the Lamanites are not happy about this and chase them. They find the city of Helam. Alma and friends are basically enslaved for a time, then are delivered and get out and find Zarahemla again as well. Helam is mentioned once after this in Alma 24 in relation to a city named after the wicked priests, so I'm guessing the bulk of the wicked priests posterity stayed here.
Cool, that was just for starters :)
General Conference time!
When Ammon comes, the first two chapters of this weeks reading is like a giant general conference. There are a couple things that you need to realize here.
First, Limhi and peeps are in a bad spot. A really bad spot. In fact... Yeah, they are just about completely crushed at this point. They are in bondage by the Lamanites, they are watched all the time, and they tried to take back their lands 3 times and were completely defeated, to the point where a significant amount of their men were just killed. Furthermore, they think that Zarahemla has ceased to exist. So when Ammon comes, its a big deal.
Limhi then says, 'look guys, there is hope.' Then he reminds them about the past, how bad it was, and where they went wrong (spoiler - never kill a prophet of God. Just don't do it.) Then things take a spiritual turn. Ammon fills them in on the discourse of King Benjamin, and they talk about plates and seers and holy things.
From there we launch into the record of Zeniff which is back in the past and follow the story from him all the way up into the present again. One thing that may help us understand the order is that we are getting things from Ammon's perspective. That is to say, the chapters are laid out in the order he learned about them. Whether purposefully or incidentally done, it will help explain the order of the next chapters.
Fast and Furious lessons from this part
Here are some fast and furious lessons you can explore this week.
1. what is a seer 8:13-20
Everything is chill and then at the end of Mosiah 8, Ammon and Limhi get super deep-doctrine-like on us. vs 13 is a real kicker. Some may wonder why God teaches line on line, precept on precept, and waits to release certain things. This is something the reasons for which, I won't pretend to understand completely, but one reason is that apparently we would perish at looking at certain knowledge. Sacred things are not to be trifled with. More than that, I don't know.
2. The God story in two verses, 7:26-28
Limhi explains all of Abinadai's teachings in two verses. Here are two take-aways that sum our entire existence.
a. 'man was created in the image of God and that God should come down among the children of men. (We are divine. Heaven can come on earth)
b. 'because he said this, they did put him to death'
(Satan will do anything and kill anyone to hide this truth from you. It is possibly the most precious truth you can know.)
(Just for the heck of it, the Egyptians would say to this - Hide it! Hide it! It is beneficial! You'll have to read The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri to understand, but it's worth it and acutely appropriate.)
3. An effectual struggle 7:18-19
One day I was reading this and the majesty of what he was saying struck me so deep. Remember that he and his people are all but destroyed. Limhi says, look, we can still do something about our situation and we should do it. He also reminds them that God is an old hand at deliverance; He knows how to do these things even when it looks impossible.
4. Over-zealousness 7:21
Limhi says Zeniff is overzealous. This can also mean looking beyond the mark. I believe that over-zealousness is not a location problem, its an instrumentation problem. It is not that you are in the wrong spot, it is that you lost your compass. To avoid being overzealous, worry less about where you are today and worry more about how you are correcting your course to focus on repentance and baptism through Jesus Christ.
and many more.
I'm out of time for this week, but there is a ton of super cool stuff in here. I really hope you enjoy your scripture study!!!
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